Friday, January 27, 2017

With their long, rich tradition in Japan, menko trading cards deserve more attention than they get. The subject matter on the cards says a lot about what was popular with kids at the time. In a way, menkos represent time capsules that teach us about cultural trends from 50, 75, or even 100 years ago. They're also very cool collectibles.

I find this grouping of menko cards fascinating for a few reasons. Just on the surface, the offset printing is magnificent. Whichever printer was responsible for the task took it to heart, mixing a bold and vibrant color palette that stands out and does justice to the dynamic characters. The paper stock is also thick and well made.

The back of menko cards had weird, esoteric numbers, symbols, and games on them that few can decipher anymore.

These uncut sheets are also interesting because they were probably "lottery prizes" at shops. Kids bought little packs of 5 or 10 menkos for a few yen. If there was a lucky stamp on the back, they would show the card to the shopkeeper to redeem this sort of prize.

I also love the variety of characters on these sheets. You have everything from samurai to cowboys & indians to soldiers and roman soldiers!

Monday, January 23, 2017

\In my previous Super Festival report, I showed a photo of the new Ultraman Treasures set. Here's a detailed look at some of the contents.

Detailed contents. Apparently, there are 50 items inside, including a range of reproductions of vehicle blueprints, character sketches, and other period pieces which provide a behind the scenes look at one of Japan's most famous tokusatsu series.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Japan Rail (JR) has a new stamp rally. This time it's the megahit anime Dragon Ball Z's turn to populate JR station with its characters.

JR staff getting in on the fun.

The stamp booths are located just outside of JR stations all over Tokyo. (I imagine they place them outside the stations so you can't just zip around the city and collect all the stamps without paying a fare.)

Here's what the stamps look like.

Inside stations are signs telling you which character stamp you can get, as well as the location.